One mile madness / Tractor Tires / Fog is clearing

In anticipation of meeting with Superman today, forging a summer long training schedule and being pushed to a sweaty mess of muscle soreness, I woke up with a lot of anxiety . I decided that my one mile run was going to be faster today than it was last week which meant I was going to need to come out under 12:00 minutes.

I don’t know how your math skills are or your time keeping for that matter but in order for my mile to be better than 12:00 I was going to need to see an 11 on the machine when I was finished. 11 can be a very intimidating number only because I knew I’d have to keep the speed at nothing less than 5.1 mph if I wanted it to happen.

I wanted it to happen bad!

I started at 5.o mph and slowly but surely bumped it up little by little. I got so far as 5.4 for a bit. I like the speed. It feels natural. I wish I could keep the pace but after about 5 minutes I had to bump it down to 4.7 and stay there for a while. At 8 minutes I slowly moved my way back up to 5.2 and there I stayed. At about 10 minutes I had to make a decision. This pace would put me over the 12 minute mark (still an excellent time) but it’s not what I wanted. Under 12 would jump start my workout with Superman and push me forward back into the frame of mind I lost last weekend. I needed to force myself back to that fighter mentality…

I needed my mojo.

At the .90 mile mark I pushed.

5.5 mph.

5.8 mph.

6.0 mph

6.3 mph.

It was amazing. I was running at 6.3 mph and it wasn’t killing me (at least not too much). Granted I only ran at that speed for a minute but when you start from nothing and 4 months later you’re running at 6.3 mph, it was FREAKING AMAZING! I crossed the one mile mark and looked at the time..

11:55

HELL YES!

I had a few minutes before Superman so I ran to see if there were any messages from work. There was a message but not from work. It was Superman. He had to cancel our session today. Dammit all to hell! But hey I ran a 11:55 mile and had some time to kill so I swam laps.

100 of them to be exact.

That’s what I like to call an awesome workout. I highly suggest you get yourself one real soon. It can help jump start your morning, your day and even your life…

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I’ve been talking about these bad boys for a while now and finally got around to taking some pictures. They are my new best friends. There is a third but I won’t show it’s beautiful tire-goodness until I can flip that bitch!

It might be a while.

I’m gonna call this little guy “Baby Bear”. It’s the smallest of the three but still fairly large as you can tell by my backpack. I needed something to compare sizes. That’s a huge backpack and it is stuffed full of all my stinky work out clothes from running my mile today…oh and in case you missed it I ran that mile in 11:55 FREAKING AWESOME MINUTES!!! Baby Bear isn’t too bad to move but after 200 feet the return trip can be a doozie!

Of course this is “Mama Bear” (You see where I’m going with this right?). She is sooooo freaking heavy. The first time I tried I couldn’t even get my hands under it (but moving baby bear 200 feet and back might have had something do with that). I wasn’t about to be defeated so on a non-Superman day I went out there and flipped her once. Just once but it was cool. I kind of felt like one of those guys from the “worlds strongest man” competition (only their tires are 450 pounds…this one not so much). The next day Superman was so excited I went out there on my own he made me do it again…I flipped it 3 times! Watch out Strongman competition.

Better yet, watch out “Papa Bear”

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When one decides to swim 100 laps there is this little thing called “Time” that you have to reflect on life and the what-nots that come along with it. I mean you can only think about your shopping list and what bills need to be paid for so long.

I’m feeling much more clear headed these days. I’ve had a few setbacks emotionally what with the news that my brother is refusing to get help but I really have come to a place in my life that I truly understand those are his actions and his alone to live.  I realize I am upset/sad at his situation because it is not what I chose when I was in his shoes. I can’t put that on him.

It’s not fair for the both of us.

As I swam those 100 laps I  said a quiet thank-you to the universe for giving me the opportunity to become human again. I thanked my past for all the hardships that brought me to where I was this morning. I thanked my body for working hard to lose 100+ pounds. I thanked my mind for staying in the moment.

I thanked Superman for not showing up today.